We are investigating the reactivities of "carbons adjacent" closo-dilithiacarboranes toward lanthanide metal halides in TMEDA, but in the absence of oxygen-containing solvents such as THF, to isolate mononuclear, zwitterionic, bent-sandwich lanthanacarboranes as precursors to coordinatively unsaturated 14-electron, do, metal alkyl derivatives. In addition to mass spectrometry and the elemental analyses of the compounds prepared, the multinuclear NMR & IR spectroscopy and where possible EPR spectroscopy, X-ray crystal structure determinations and magnetic measurements will be the integral part of the characterization.